LONGVIEW, Texas (KETK) — The East Texas Coaches Association held its’ annual Hall of Honor banquet Saturday night in Longview.
The 2026 ETCA Hall of Honor inductees included longtime Lufkin defensive coordinator and head football coach Todd Quick, former Spring Hill and Hallsville HFC Steve Gaddis and former NFL players Jason Peters (Queen City) and LaMichael James (Liberty-Eylau).
Quick, who coached at Lufkin for 30 years, started out as defensive coordinator under legendary Panthers head coach John Outlaw in 1995.
He served as Lufkin’s DC until he became head coach in 2012, a few months after Outlaw passed away.
Quick helped lead Lufkin to its’ only state title in 2001 and also led the Pack to the state semifinals in three of the next four seasons after that.
In his final season as Lufkin’s head football coach, Quick led the Panthers to a 10-2 record, district title and second round playoff appearance.
“It’s a great honor. What I tried to do every day was do what the kids needed, what was best for the kids, and you just go in and you do that. That’s your goal. It led to this. I had a great mentor for 26 years. John Outlaw. Not everybody’s as lucky as what I was because he really, really helped me through the times as growing up as an assistant coach. Mr. Roy Knight gave me a chance after Coach Outlaw passed away and never looked back. Mr. Kurt Stephens was at the superintendent’s spot also. Great supporter of what we tried to do and just thankful. You can’t do it by yourself. There’s kids, there’s coaches, there’s family and there’s administration. You have to have those four or it’s not going to be successful. You have to have those and so I’ve been very fortunate through the 40 years that I’ve been coaching I’ve been around the good groups, those four groups,” Quick said.
J.B. Haggerty, who’s served as an assistant coach at Pittsburg, Karnack, Tatum and Marshall, was also inducted into the ETCA Hall of Honor, and Carthage football was recognized after the Bulldogs captured their 11th state title back in December.
Rocky Mullikan with Riddell was honored with the Distinguished Service Award and James Hargett with the Tyler TASO was also honored as a football official.
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